Road Trip..

Today I had to get up early...around 6 am to get ready to head out for a road trip. The entire thing started to shape up on Thursday. My brother-in-law called to ask me if I could do him the favor of picking up his grandparents from their hotel in Filzmoos and drive them with their car back to Vienna. The reason was that his grandparents didn't feel so hot and didn't think they could manage to that themselves. Bernd couldn't do it himself either since he, my sis and her family were leaving for a vacation on Friday morning. So I agreed to the entire thing.
On Saturday I had figured out which train to take and had arranged for the hotel to pick my up at the train station in Bischofshofen. The first part of the train ride, from St. Poelten to Salzburg went by in no time at all. Took only 2 hours. The weather wasn't particularly fun. Fog and nothing but fog...a typical thing in Austria during fall. Once we got the city of Salzburg the fog disappeared and it was a sunny and beautiful fall day. I had a 15 minute layover, then me connecting train arrived. The second part took about 45 minutes for 50 miles...and that's rather slow. I got off the train and found my ride to the hotel and arrived there around 11.45 am.
I met up with Bernd's grandparents and we left right away. I couldn't find an open gas station at their vacation destination, so I chose to fill up the car at a gas station on the freeway. The first option to do that was 1 mile after I had gotten onto the freeway. We then continued on the freeway towards Vienna. There really wasn't much traffic at all. Halfway through the trip we tok a lunch break Nd then continued towards Vienna. We got there around 4 pm. I helped them with their stuff and then we sId our good byes. I headed over to Central Station. When I got there I got my ticket right away and was prepared to wait for 1 hour for the next train. Turns out that the next train was about to leave in 15 minutes. So I got onto the train and headed back to my parents.
After 11 hours and 550 miles this road trip came to an end. The grandparents of my brother-in-law are back at their apartment safe and sound and I had a quite enjoyable road trip.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

I finally got around to watching Transformers 3. I'm not going to write a synopsis or a plot description. There are people out there that do that for a living. For those of you who don't hive a clue what movie I am talking about, check out the IMDB Page of Transformers 3.
Here are my thoughts about this movie:
Let's start with the good stuff. It's another typical Michael Bay film. The action scenes are well planned through and quite amazing. Love all the great SFX...and there are a ton of those. Those effects satisfy a lot what I expect from a SiFi inspired Action Movie.
Let's move onto the things that just don't work for me. Whoever chose to replace Megan Fox with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley had to be entirely out of his mind. I'm not saying she's a bad actress, but she and Shia LaBeouf have absolutely no chemistry at all. That pretty much kills that part of the plot. There 'love story' comes of as completely artificial, fake and cheesy. Of all the movies I have seen in my entire life, that has to be the worst chemistry between 2 actors!
The next thing that is quite bothersome is the need to anchor the plot by using real historical events in order to kinda rationalize the existence of the movie. That really seems to be a trend lately and it is quite annoying. I don't need to rationally set up the plot of an action movie by using historical events. After all it's a action movie and not and documentary. The Transformers crashed on the moon. Good...let's start from there. There would have been absolutely no need to sprinkle lots of conspiracy theory over it.
The entire subplot with the job search is kinda insulting my intelligence. Michael Bay needs to get a grip of reality. Someone saves the entire planet from destruction, gets awarded a 'hero medal' and has a problem of finding a job? People get back to reality..that's just not the way it works in real life. I do realize that it was just done to set up the coming events...but there had to be a better way to do that.
The dialogue has no particular style or whit except when Malkovich adds his own spin. But other than that I had the feeling with the dialogues throughout the movie, that nobody really took the time to pay close attention to them and actually  tried to develop them. A little less SFX and a little more time spent on dialogue would have quite been an improvement.
Beings as technologically advance as the Decepticons not realizing that the Autobots haven't left...well, I'm just not buying it. That they need visual confirmation of the Autobots leaving by Sam, well that's just bad writing.
I did love the battle scenes, as they're well planned out and quite fun to watch. A Transformer cutting a building in half and it's slowly tilting over, while the humans try to escape. Please people get real. Transformers or not, on this planet the laws of physics still apply. A building cut in half doesn't just slowly tilt over on land on another building creating a 'fairly stable' bridge, while allowing the humans to escape fairly easy. In the future Michael Bay would be well advised to not entirely negate the laws of physics. Another very funny thing is the lowering on the bridges. Here Michael Bay really should have done his research. You can't remotely lower the bridges by using the Internet. That's just not the way it works. If it did, every hacker would constantly be doing that.
The entire Optimus 'love story' for America is so fake and so cheesy, that it should have never ever been in the movie to begin with and it doesn't do anything to the plot at all!
Moving on to the final battle scene...Absolutely loved it!! I would have loved to have gotten an explanation why the  chose Chicago as their hub to bring Cybertron to Earth. They subplot of Sentinel's exact reasoning for betraying Optimus and how he intends to control the Decepticons isn't being not explored at all. Exploring that subplot would have given the movie way more depth.
Sam's girlfriend has one job in the movie: to look pretty. Here on line towards the end of the last beetle scene comes off as particularly fake and cheesy. Maybe it's just me but for being a superhero Shia certainly doesn't play much of a roll for the first 2/3's of the movie.
In general there was a disconnect between the action parts of the movie and those parts that should set up the action scenes. While the action scenes move along almost at the speed of light, the scenes setting up the action scenes stand out as being particularly slow. In my opinion that was quite annoying throughout the entire movie. A little less speed during the action scenes and a little more speed during the scenes setting up the action sequences would have made this a more enjoyable movie experience. In my personal opinion this the the weakest movie of the Transformer Franchise so far.
With all that being said, I still think it's a great action movie with stunning visual effects. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give it a 6.8!!

Green Lantern

Today I finally got around to watch 'Green Lantern'. I'm not going to write a synopsis about it, since there are people out there that are doing a way better job with that. For the synopsis check out the IMDB Page of the Green Lantern.
Here are my thoughts on that movie:
I really enjoyed it a lot. It was an equally great superhero movie as Thor. The story is easy, straight forward and there ares no surprising twists and turns in the plot. The movie moves along at a quite fast paste. They don't spend too much time trying to explain how e.g. flying in space works. And that's actually a good thing. They explain it exactly as  and in easy to understand terms, as it is necessary for the plot. You put a ring on your finger, you imagine what's supposed to happen and Bam...there you have the effect. Very easy but also very effective explained and exactly the way every kid would imagine it. I really did enjoy that explanation.
What maybe is a little too easy is the way people are used to aliens, as if the alien itself and its implications were no big deal at all. Considering that this is a superhero movie and not about humans coming to terms, that there are aliens out there, it does a pretty decent job.
Absolutely loved all the SFX. they were just amazing. It was a fast paced 'lightening show' of effects. Absolutely loved how crisp the colors looked. Especially the hue of the green was very impressive! Parallax is not only very well imagined but also a perfect representation of a pure evil villain. The seven where Parallax chases after people and the people flee in pure panic towards the camera, while skyscrapers are toppling in the background is action movie making at its finest and I really didn't expect seeing anything like that in a US movie that soon.
Peter Sarsgaard plays the scientist Hector Hammond brilliantly. The sub-plot about Hectors mind reading ability is not developed very well and I would have loved to see it explored in more depth.
That in the end good triumphs over evil is not really a big surprise. Neither is the fact that the superhero gets to kiss the girl. There is something here that did bother me a little. It's the fact, that Hal doesn't even remotely try to conceal his true identity. As far as I understand superheroes that should be one of their most important tasks. The scene where Hal gets the girl and is surprised that she immediately realizes who he is, is kinda goofy.
I really liked the scene at the end where they're already setting up a sequel. All in all it is a fun, fast paced action movie and I enjoyed it a lot. It has all what I expect from an action movie: Easy story, great action scenes and amazing special effects. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give it a 8!!

A relaxing Saturday

Today I decided to have one of those relaxing Saturday's. My parents were gone hiking. Sine my shoulder was hurting I didn't think it would have been a smart move to join them. On the other hand mi enjoy those relaxing Saturdays and having the entire house to myself...that's always a great 'Harry Time'. It also gave me time to catch up and some reading that I had fallen behind on. Next up was Ep. 'Revisited No. 1' of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. Once I had finished it was time to get some lunch started.  Had Porcini Noodles with Green Beans and Carrots in 'my special' light Veggie Sauce. After lunch I took Daisy for an extended walk. After we got back I watched Ep.'Air Apparent' of CSI New York and then sneak peak of 'Grimm', which will be premiering next Saturday on NBC. Absolutely loved the sneak peak. Definitely looking forward the Ep. 1. Shortly after I finished watching the sneak peak my parents got back from their hike and it was time for dinner.  Next up was Ep. 'Luigi's' of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. After that I headed out to the local bar. Since they were having a special event the next day..it wasn't that entertaining. So after 1 had finished with my large beer I headed back home. It was still fairly early in the evening, so I started watching the Green Lantern on my iPad. I'll be talking a little more about this movie in a separate Blog Post.

Moving Abroad ???

That title and it's implications may come to some as a surprise. Those who really know me, they shouldn't be shocked at all.
When I decided to move back to Austria in March, it certainly wasn't my first choice. I would have much rather moved to the UK or Germany instead. But planning a full-scale move, preparing the move for the dog, having a new version of certain government documents issued, looking for work and a place to live...and all of that at the same time, well that was a task I didn't particularly want to take on. So moving back to Austria just seemed to be the easier and more practical thing to do.
I like my "home country", it's a fun place to spend your vacation...but living there is an entirely different thing. Maybe I've really lived too long abroad, but Austria and I are not exactly what you would call a match made in heaven. You could make it work by forth, but it will never ever be a really good fit. It's almost like putting square tires on a pickup truck! For me this country is just too small and I'm not talking about its size. I'm talking about the points of view of its citizens. They think of things within a framework that is way too small and way too confiningfor my taste. They just can't think outside the box. Many things are way too over regulated for my taste. Too much governmental interference and too little individualism. And things move quite slowly here...that doesn't mean that people are lazy, it's just the mentality of the people...and it drives me crazy at times!! It just doesn't work on so many levels for me! On the other hand it has always been that way. Apparently I've been way too much Americanized, to continue dealing with that!
Of course there is a personal side to that as well. Starting over in a city like Vienna is not exactly what I would call a clean slate and a new beginning. Besides that Vienna has kinda lost it's appeal for me. That city just isn't exciting anymore. It has become rather dull and boring. Trying to make that work doesn't seem like the right decision...after all I'm no longer the same person that left Vienna over 8 years ago.
What I need is a clean slate and a fresh start in a world city. Currently I'm leaning much more towards moving to the UK. London busy and exciting, it's a world city and one major financial center in Europe. This is exactly what makes it interesting to me from a professional point of view. Of course I'm not hang up on London, I use it as a synonym for all larger meteropolean areas. Right now I'm looking mostly for work in the UK and Germany as well. Of course I'm also keeping my eyes out for temp jobs in Austria, since that move might not happen that quickly. My current timeframe is roughly summer 2012 for that to happen. On the other hand it could be that this is going to happen way quicker than anyone expects. You just never know!! It's definitely something that I'm looking forward to. It would be a new beginning, a different culture and a different experience. Nothing is set in stone yet, but stay tuned on how things are going with that endeavor!

iOS5

This weekend I got the chance to play around with iOS5 on the iPad. Here are my thoughts about it: It's definitely a shiny packaging and a sleek look. Some of the added features I did already have via Thrid-Party Apps. Therefore they're not impressing me that much.

• What is a nice plus is the improved Notifications, as the old system of pop-ups was really annoying.  
• iMessage is overall an improvement, but that it only works on iOS devices is definitely a big disappointment! 
• The Camera App has been improved, but overall doesn't do too much for my taste. 
• The Newsstand is an entirely pointless feature for me and I really could live without it! 
• The Twitter Integration is nice an overall improvement.  
• The revamp of Safari is OK. They added a couple of nice and quite helpful features. The Tabs in the browser are not one of them. They're absolutely terrible and make the way I work way more difficult! 
• The News Reminder App is definitely a very helpful, great new feature. 
• I really couldn't care less about the Mail App, since I don't use it to begin with! 
• That no longer a PC is required to set up the device is one of the biggest improvements of the entire software update. 
• The new Game Center doesn't do anything for me, while synchronizing iTunes via wifi is a nice feature. 
• One of the core issues of iCal still hasn't been addressed. The way you set up recurring events is as ridiculous as in the previous version.  

This software update brought some improvements. On the other hand there are still some core issues that have mot been addressed at all. Considering the hype they built up for the software update and what it actually turned out to be, I would have to say that it is rather a disappointment. On a scale of 1 to 5 - with one being the worst and 5 being the best - I probably would give it a 2.5!

End of an Era...

This Blog Post is not about the introduction of the IOS5 or the death of Steve Jobs...this here is way mor personal. 
I used to be an absolute fan of Apple products. The important words in this sentence are 'used to'. But lately Apple products just seems to loose their appeal. They just don't make me that excited as when I got my first Apple device. It was a used iPod. For me that was the coolest thing ever. In 2005 I got my first iMac and was absolutely in love with that thing. It looked amazing and it's performance was absolutely outstanding. It let me work the way I wanted to work on a computer without having to follow the strict guidelines that some programmer thought I should follow. The working surface and the interface was clean and intuitive. The applications ran fast, without any bugs and were just fun to work with. A system crash was a very rare occasion. Very rarely you had to deal with system updates. That iMac made me the creative guy that I'm today. It let me do what I wanted to do: Create content without having to worry about what the thing was doing in the background. I enjoyed every minute of it. That way I got into creating websites, telling photo-stories and finally editing amateur video of semi-professional quality. Whatever I threw at the iMac and OS Tiger they could handle it all. I never ever had any regrets of having paid 2 Grand for my iMac.
So far that almost sounds like a love letter to Apple. Then came that faithful day in 2007 when all started to change. It was the release of OSX Leopard. At first everything seemed to be cool and awesome. That was my first impression as well. But something in the coding of the OS was definitely wrong. It started with minor system hiccups. I really didn't worry too much about that. The system hiccups continued and Apple started to release system update after system update. Well it didn't really improve the performance. Looking at it in retrospect the iMac running OS Leopard was getting more and more like a computer running Windows: in the beginning a computer running windows is fast and has no issues. But depending on the length of time and intensity you use the computer the OS accumulates lots of 'dead program trash' and that makes the computer sluggish and starts driving you out of your mind. 
As long as my iMac was running Tiger I never experienced that. But Leopard was definitely leaning into that direction. I had hoped that OS Snowleopard would address that issue...but it doesn't. I use my computer quite extensively and I throw at it lots of things...and of course I expect from the machine to deal with the requests in a timely fashion and not to drive my out of my mind. So I finally decided to wipe the iMac clean and start from scratch. Well the in the beginning it worked quite nicely with a clean installation of OS Leopard. But very soon the thing became quite sluggish again...and that can drive me crazy. Just for the fun of it I wiped OS Leopard and installed my old OS Tiger and the iMac was again in perfect working condition without ever experiencing the issues I had with Leopard. The easiest thing would have been to runTiger, but my editing software and Tiger are not exactly what you would call BFF's. My editing software runs on Tiger but gets kinda sluggish at times and that's terrible when you're edition video. So back to Leopard I went...and I really wasn't a happy camper.
I talked to friends of mine who were running OS Lion, the predecessor of Leopard. Turns out that the issues of Leopard still exist in Lion. That exactly was the point when I started to change the way I see Apple products. Macs are way more expensive than PC's running windows. I always justified that with the fact, that with a Mac I don't have the aggravation that I have with PC's. Looking at the last few OS releases, that's no longer true. The last 2 OSX cause me almost the same aggrevation, that I get from a PC running Windows, while costing me a lot more money. 
When I got my iPad I used to love that thing and I have to say it's a great piece of hardware. It really let's me do a lot of things that came especially in handy during the relocation while my iMac was traveling across the Atlantic in a container-ship. With that being said, there are quite some things that really drive me nuts when it comes to the iPad. That the iPad doesn't support Flash is absolutely laughable! The user really don't gives a rats ass if a few boys in Cupertino are sitting in their 'we hate Flash' Ivory-Tower and have entirely lost any connection with the real world. If I would have to buy a new iPad somewhere down the line and it doesn't support Flash...well then I won't be buying it! The other issues are pretty much minor ones. Like that I can't create albums in my own Photo-App or that I can't mount the iPad as storage device when connected to my computer is entirely ridiculous. After all it's my device and I should be able to do with it whatever I choose to.
I certainly not going to get rid of all my Apple products. They have just become part of my daily life. I'm definitely keeping my iMac as well and just do those things on it where the iMac does a really superb job. As long as Apple doesn't get back to coding and testing their software the way they used to, I really don't see myself buying any Apple Software any time soon. When it comes to hardware the decision is even easier. I just can't justify to spend about 1100 bucks every 2 or 3 years on a new MacBook. That's just too much money. If a buy a laptop of comparable quality it costs me 1/2 of it and I know that it will be so messed up in 3 years at the latest, that I have to toss it out. But that would be happening regardless.
If Apple should return to building outstanding and superb hardware and software again, then I will change my position again. Since I don't see any signs of that happening...well it looks like as if that journey is going to come to an end!

Hiking 'Upper Ötschergräben'

According to the weather forecast today was going to be the last warm the before a cold front is going to move in. So I decided to take advantage of that beautiful fall day and took Daisy for a hike into the 'Upper Oetschergraeben'.
It took me about 1 hour to get to the trailhead in 'Erlaufklause'. We started along a logging road and I had decided to hike in the entire logging road until it reaches the mountain hut 'SH Vorderoetscher'. What I didn't expect was, that the mountain hut was closed on that day. But that didn't stop me from doing that hike anyway. The hike is pretty easy and it takes you about 2 1/2 hours to reach 'SH Vorderoetscher'. You get some great views of 'Oetscher' and you get to experience the fall colors of the forest.
When we got to the mountain hut, we took a short rest. Daisy got something to drink and to chill out in the shade for about 1/2 hour. It was a nice surprise to find some cans of beer cooled in a kind of a animal trough. I took advantage of the offer and paid gladly the 2€ for the beer. Up till here we had only met 4 other hikers. I really didn't expect many, since this was a weekday and fairly late into the hiking season.
After the relaxing for about 1/2 hour we started with the descend into the 'Upper Oetschergraeben'. You have to hike down for about 1/2 hour through one of the side-canyons. Since there were that few hikers I decided to let Daisy hike off leash. She really enjoyed that quite a lot and it wasn't a problem since I know that Daisy doesn't go running of and she doesn't chase wildlife either. About halfway down the side-canyon we met 2 more hikers, but Daisy didn't pay any attention to them..she was busy drinking out of s creek. We continued down the side-canyon and pretty soon reached to main-canyon.
The main canyon is a quite narrow trail, sometimes high above the river, but absolutely beautiful to hike. I didn't expect Daisy to have any issues, but I did watch her in the beginning, just in case she should be a little unsure about the trail. For her that was no big deal, she acted as if she had done that her entire life. The further downriver you get, the broader the trail gets. We passed 'Mira Fall' that almost had no water at all and about 1/2 later we reached a snack place called 'Oetscherhias'. By the time we got there the snack place had already closed for the day. So we just stopped to have something to drink, before starting to hike out of the canyon. By about 6 pm we were back at the car.
It was s great and beautiful fall hike and it took us about 5 1/2 hours to complete the entire hike. Daisy has been hiking exceptionally well the past few weeks and she definitely had a blast checking out all the different smells and scents. And of course she got to do here new favorite thing: walking through creeks and drinking out of them. That's something she picked up when she got to Austria!
You can check out more pix of that hike in the photo-album 'Upper Ötschergräben' on my FaceBook Page!!

Hiking 'Unterberg'

Today was another beautiful fall day and I chose to take advantage of it before this high pressure ridge collapses. I decided to take Daisy for a hike to 'Unterberg'. I chose one of the longer hiking trails and started from a place called 'Dürrholzer Kreuz'. You start at an elevation of 2395 feet.
First the trail follows one of the logging roads. The forest was showing its beautiful fall colors and the air was fresh and cool...someone might even call it chilly. I really enjoy the weather in fall for hikes. After probably 15 minutes the trail leaves the logging road and leads slowly uphill in a mountain flank. There are no steep ascends, it's all very moderate. After about 30 minutes the trail starts to get steeper and you hike through a fairly steep wooded mountain flank. Then follows again a more moderate part. The last part is then fairly steep again where the trail goes through the rocky part of the mountain flank. After about 2 hours you reach a place called 'Blochboden'.
From here you could hike over to the 'Unterberg Haus' in about 30 minutes. But I chose to hike over the summit. The trail leads mostly over grassy hills and is mostly very moderate. Only once you reach the top part of the summit it gets steeper. The summit is about 4402 feet. Certainly not the most impressive mountain, but you have a great view of the surrounding foothills. Daisy and I spent about 20 minutes up there before heading down to 'Unterberg Haus'. The trail leads pretty much in an almost straight line down a fairly steep grassy slope. I certainly won't add the trail from the summit to 'Unterberg Haus' to my top 100 favorite trails.
We took a lunch break at 'Unterberg Haus' and Daisy got to socialize with dog of the mountain hut. Those two guys really hit it off!!  After about 1 hour we had to leave and made our way back to 'Blochboden'. Daisy didn't have any problems at all in the steep parts. It's like as if she had been doing that her entire life. By about 6 pm we had it made back to the car.   The hiking time of 5 1/2 hours were absolutely no problem for my 'cowdog'.
All in all it was a great Fall Hike and Daisy had tons of fun!!
You can check out more pix of this hike in the photo-album 'Unterberg, 2011' on my Facebook Page!!

Hiking 'Treffling Fall'

Today was another beautiful fall day. Since I did have the time I decided to take Daisy for hike to 'Trefflingfall' in the foothills. My parents decided to join me as well.
The trailhead is about a 1 hour drive from my parents and we made it to the trail by 11.30 am. It's a fairly easy trail and a great choice for a fall hike. The trail starts out along the river 'Erlauf' and leads for about 30 minutes through mostly forest. This is just fun to hike and Daisy especially had a blast in the forest. You continue to walk quite close along the river. Suddenly you reach a formation called 'Teufekskirche' (Devils Church), a place of worship for Satanists....LOL, I'm just kidding!! It's just an interesting rock formation. Shortly thereafter we reached a bridge and had to cross to the other side of the river. Daisy didn't have any issues with that. Now you hike continuously along the river. Sometimes the trail is quite narrow and right next to the river and sometimes it leads for a little while Thoth the forest. Suddenly you see a few houses in the middle of the forest. They seem entirely out of place. You continue for quite a while to a rock formation call 'Toreck', where the river hike changes a canyon hike. You continue to walk high above the river and suddenly you reach the beginning of 'Trefflingfall'. Well it might not be the most impressive waterfall, but it's definitely a very beautiful one. I got several great pix of the waterfall and the started to hike up pretty much next to the waterfall. At one spot you can literally stand right next to the waterfall. Daisy didn't seem to impressed by that at all. She was way more interested in the smells of the forest. The trail loops back and forth in a flank next the waterfall and Daisy got a couple of times get a little confused which direction to go.
Shortly after that you have to cross the a bridge to the other side of the valley. You get an impressive view of the waterfall. Again Daisy wasn't particularly impressed by that either. On the other side of the valley you have to hike up in step rock flank. It's not technically difficult since it is secured with a handrail and the steps in the rock, which creates a staircase, are quite helpful as well. It takes you about 1/2 hour to get to the steep part of the flank, followed by another 1/2 hour hike through the upper 'Treffling Valley' until you get to 'Trefflingtaler Haus', where the hike ends. We had lunch there and relaxed for about 1 hour before heading back. Before we left Daisy socialized a little with a small Maltese and they seemed to get along well with each other. We started to hike the same trail that we came and Daisy didn't have any issues with going down the stairs.  She seems to be a natural when it comes to that. Never even looked at me for advice, just was doing her thing as if she had been doing that all her life long. By about 6 pm we had made it back go the car.
All in all it was a beautiful and great fall hike and Daisy enjoyed herself a lot!
You can check out more pix of that hike in the Photo-Album 'Trefflingfall, 2011' on my Facebook Page!!